As a mom of three and one on the way, I’m really into pregnancy health and the overlap of my nontoxic lifestyle to support both mom and baby throughout trying to conceive, pregnancy, and postpartum. 

And since I’m in the thick of it right now (25 weeks pregnant!), I wanted to round everything up and share with you all the things I’m doing and using (and why) for this pregnancy. 

Per usual, you can trust that I’ve researched the heck out of these things and have a reason for each choice! Especially with this being Baby #4, there’s a lot I’ve learned along the way and I feel so good about the routines I’m in this time around. Okay, let’s dive in: 

What I’m Eating for a Healthy Pregnancy

It is so common and easy to feel just crappy when you’re pregnant. Morning sickness, exhaustion, cravings … we hear about how hard it is to be pregnant pretty regularly and far too many mamas feel sick throughout the process. 

To help me feel healthy and strong throughout pregnancy, I’m really intentional about what I’m fueling my body with. These have to be quick, simple things to focus on to feel my best for them to actually happen, so I’ve honed in on just three main areas: 

1. High Quality Protein

My goal every day (pregnant or not) is to get at least 100 grams of protein in my diet. I’m especially strict about this when pregnant and prioritize this focus for every meal. It’s important to note that there’s different types of protein (plant-based, animal-based, legumes, peas, etc).

Animal protein is a complete protein, meaning they have all the essential amino acids our bodies need. So I focus on animal-based proteins for that 100 grams whenever possible. Think meats, eggs, yogurt, cheeses, and milk. I also incorporate different kinds of nut butters for a little extra protein and flavor. 

My very favorite protein powder is from Just Ingredients. It has both animal and plant proteins with 20 grams of protein in an 8oz serving. I love how clean the ingredients are in this, but I also genuinely love the way it tastes (which is hard to come by with clean protein powders). This is an easy way to get lots of protein in quickly. I mix it with water, milk, or put it in a smoothie. I also love that I can take this on the go and sip while dropping the kids off to make sure I don’t skip morning protein! 

I’m sharing quick, high protein meal ideas on my Instagram, too, so make sure you’re following along for how I get all that protein in every day! Here’s my recent cheeseburger recipe to get you started.

2. Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a super vitamin for your health and can help so much with morning sickness (or evening sickness). I take these Vitamin D Drops daily to greatly reduce any morning sickness and help make anything I do feel much more manageable. 

3.  Hydration

Hydration is vital to feeling alive and helping your body function optimally all the time, but even more so when you’re pregnant! Your body is working hard to fuel and grow another body, so you need to double down on the support you give yourself. 

You can buy a cute cup to help motivate you to drink more water or keep track of how many ounces you’ve had each day to hit your goal, but one of the things I absolutely love is what our family calls “salty water.” These electrolytes from LMNT are seriously helpful for maximizing my water intake (it’s super yummy!) and providing other hydrating ingredients. 

LMNT has 100 mg of sodium to support your body needs, 200 mg of potassium which helps avoid cramps and is super important when you’re pregnant, and 60 mg of magnesium which helps you sleep and absorb calcium.

LMNT is sugar free and sweetened with stevia and all the tropical flavors are delicious to drink so it helps me suck down my water! I have a few options for you here! (The variety pack is my personal fav.) 

Supplements

On top of my daily nutrition, I take prenatal vitamins to stay healthy and feeling good throughout my pregnancy— and taking care of baby! 

Just like you have to pay attention to your protein source and make sure you’re eating high quality ingredients, you have to be careful with prenatal vitamins using synthetic ingredients. 

One ingredient in particular to keep an eye out for is folic acid. It can actually be harmful to mom and/or baby with certain health conditions (like the genetic mutation MTHFR) but it’s common in prenatal vitamins and doctors might even recommend vitamins with folic acid because they compare it as “equal” to the natural ingredient— folate. 

Let me be clear: it’s not the same! And we as the mom have to be diligent in what we put into our bodies and our understanding of how these things affect us. Folate is an important ingredient, so make sure when you’re looking for a prenatal it has the real deal, and not folic acid. 

I’m personally using Heart and Soil’s Prenatal Pack which uses real ingredients and has all the vitamins, minerals, and nutritional value for both me and baby. This is the first pregnancy I’ve been using these supplements and I’ve been feeling so good! And, I love the company, their transparency, sourcing, and education. 

Disclosure: it’s a lot of pills! I take them throughout the day instead of in one sitting and often drink them with milk instead of water to help swallow. In my first trimester, I wasn’t always able to get them all down in a day, so I made sure I at least took my folate (which I purchased this one on its own) and took the rest when I was able. Knowing what to prioritize and focusing on what you can do rather than what’s feeling hard can be super empowering and great for your mindset during pregnancy on those tougher days!

Exercise

Before I got pregnant, I was pretty religious with working out 3-4 times/week. I use the Peloton app for strength training and alternate between upper body, lower body, and full body. I loved how I felt coupling strength training with my protein intake! It was my goal when I found out I was pregnant to keep up with that routine as best I could. 

My first trimester brought some morning yuckiness and major fatigue, so I had to cut back on the strength training. I wanted to keep prioritizing movement, so instead of giving up altogether, I focused on walking whenever possible. 

We’d walk to school, I’d walk to pick up Jaxlee, I’d take a mid-day walk, seriously anytime I could fit in a walk (and felt up to it)— I did! If you’re not feeling great, I want to encourage you to not give up on movement, but shift your focus to simply walking. It’s crazy how impactful walking is for your body!!

Once I entered the second trimester, I was feeling a lot better and moved back into lifting weights. Even though I had taken 7 weeks off, I wanted to be always paying attention to what I was feeling up to and do my best to push myself (comfortably) to stay strong throughout the pregnancy. Remember that you can adjust your exercise routines throughout your pregnancy and what you do one day doesn’t have to be what you do the next! Most importantly: have grace with yourself. 

Another tip for exercising through pregnancy: look for group fitness classes! I do two group classes each week with friends at local churches (for free!) and I love being in community with other women while having some extra eyes on me to make sure I’m staying safe and feeling good throughout the class. 

The motivation for moving through pregnancy is two-fold: 

1. I’m getting ready to have a baby! I want to be at peak performance for delivery and keeping my body strong through this pregnancy is a big part of that. 
2. I am still caring for Jaxlee full time. She is 10 years old and I lift her, bathe her, dress her, etc. Caring for her and her needs requires that I am physically strong which is such a motivator for me because I want and need to be able to do that for her. I can’t let my strength go away just because I’m pregnant! Staying strong for her is a lifelong commitment and motivator! 

The healthier I am now, the easier my recovery postpartum and returning to my strength will be so I can keep up as a mom of four! 

Clothing & Outfits

As someone who loves to feel cute and “get dressed” every day, I have a love/hate relationship with maternity clothes. I love the comfort they provide, especially as my belly grows, but I hate to spend money on clothes I’ll only wear through pregnancy and won’t get a ton of use out of. Here’s a few of my hacks for clothes through pregnancy: 

1. Wear non-maternity for as long as possible: I wear whatever I can in my closet that still fits or is loose/baggy and go without maternity clothes until I might start stretching them out 😂

2. Wear second hand: I’m in a local moms resell Facebook page where I’ve purchased a few maternity items that are great staples and not too expensive. Especially because I’ve been pregnant through summer and will be through fall and winter, I need to dress for several seasons and therefore need a variety of clothes! Poshmark is another great site to check out for second hand clothes. 

3. Borrowing from friends: this has been such a fun option! Friends and I have swapped clothes when someone gets pregnant and then we give them back for the next pregnancy! This way I have fresh clothes without having to buy them or keep them. 

4. My favorite— Nuuly! Every month I rent six items from Nuuly, which has tons of maternity options. I love this option to change my clothes with the season and I can plan ahead for upcoming weddings I’m working or other occasions to have a special outfit without buying one. You can get $30 off your first Nuuly here: https://share.nuuly.com/emily663

Beauty Products

You know I’m a stickler about clean ingredients! Since this is a priority all the time, not much changes during pregnancy. But if you haven’t put a lot of effort into using nontoxic products, pregnancy is your moment!! 

Quick caveat: As the clean beauty movement has grown in popularity, many companies have started marketing their products as “clean,” but are still using harmful ingredients. I can get really worked up about this marketing tactic, so I’ll just say this: it is so, so important that you understand what ingredients to look for, how to read the labels, and empower yourself with research and knowledge to choose products that will keep you and baby safe. 

The best advice I have for doing this well is to find companies that are super transparent with their ingredients and sharing education about why they’re using those ingredients in their products. I like when a company talks about what they’re using and what they’re not using. If it ever feels like a company is hiding something, they probably are. 

I have a handful of tried and true companies that I have researched and tested and know that anything I buy from them will be formulated with ingredients that have been third party tested, vetted for safety and the effects on the human body, and I don’t have to question if the marketing is truthful. 

My passion for clean products started with the very first company I partnered with (even before Beautycounter). They had a label on their products that said “do not use if pregnant or nursing” and I was always so focused on making sure any clients I had were not pregnant or nursing to keep them safe. At that time, I didn’t understand ingredients like I do now, but I knew that a label like that was serious! 

Now, I know better and wouldn’t use any products that aren’t safe for pregnancy or nursing, even when I’m not! Every product I use and encourage now is safe for everyone from age 15 to 65. It feels good to not be worried about giving a product that’s not safe for pregnancy or nursing anymore (hello, red flag!). 

Here’s some of my favorite companies for products both now through pregnancy and always:

Crunchi

Primally Pure

Kalos Co. 

If you’re not into clean beauty, but you’re trying to conceive (yes this is crucial for hormone health), pregnant or breastfeeding, I want to encourage you to make this the time that you pay attention and change your products. It can be such an impactful thing to choose for you and your baby during this time. Everything you put on your body is absorbed through your skin and deposited to your babies through the umbilical cord. It matters!!

After having Jaxlee, we did a lot of work with naturopathic practitioners and Jax tested very high for heavy metals. The doctor told me one of the ways a mom detoxes her body is by passing her toxins through to the fetus. So whatever I was putting in and on my body was transferred to Jax. Gah! If that doesn’t make you pay attention, I don’t know what will! 

Skincare

I always stick to my four step skincare routine! You can check that out here: https://emilyreneebarton.com/2024/01/09/skincare-routine/

Makeup

I love Crunchi, Thrive Cosmetics, Saie, and Kosas for makeup! Email me at hello@emilyreneebarton.com for customized recommendations. 

Bodycare

It’s not just about clean skincare and makeup. My shampoo, conditioner, body wash, oils, lotions, etc. are all as clean as money can buy. Deodorant is a huge one to pay attention to! Your milk ducts and lymphatic system are right there absorbing whatever is in your deodorant right into those blood streams (and milk). Making sure your deodorant is clean and non-toxic is so important. I personally love Primally Pure for this (I mostly use their charcoal deodorant). I’ve also been using their lemongrass body oil for hydration all over my body. 

My other favorite product right now is Crunchi’s Vitamin C Serum which I’ve been putting on my stretch marks from past babies and the new ones that are forming/reappearing with this baby! 

Fragrance

This is huge!! When I smell perfumes on pregnant women I could cringe!!!! 

I have a strong feeling around synthetic fragrance. If you cut only one thing during pregnancy, make it perfume (okay and toxic deodorant because I can’t just choose just one thing). 

You can still smell and feel good and use a scent, but any type of fragrance or perfume that is not a naturally formulated product should be avoided. Fragrance is so detrimental to not just your health but the health of your unborn baby, too. It’s okay to use things with a scent, just really pay attention to where the scent is derived from. 

There’s a major deficit in the United States regulations because companies can use the word “fragrance” as an ingredient in their products without being required to disclose what is actually in the fragrance. So that word hides a lot of bad ingredients and you have to be really careful of having things with “fragrance.” 

There are some fragrance oils that are great options to smell good without dousing yourself in toxins. One of my favorites is Riddle. Santal is my favorite smell from them! 

Whew!! That was a lot, babe. If you are trying to conceive, pregnant, or thinking about having a baby (or another one) down the road, I hope you found all of this helpful and encouraging. At the end of the day, I want you to be confident that you are the best mom for your baby and you’re doing everything you can to take care of yourself and your little one to live the healthiest, happiest life you can. 

You got this, mama!

Xoxo,

Emily